Prompt:
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observe:
During my observations with Mr. Varden this week I concentrated on observing his relationship with the students in his classes. Mr. Varden has a very professional relationship with all of his students and they all seem to respect him and consider him to be the authority figure within the room. They enter the classroom and greet him and take their seats without acting up. When Mr. Varden begins class everyone quiets down and listens attentively to him. The order within the room is very impressive! Mr. Varden seems to treat all of his students as adults and he values their concerns and allows them to provide input to him about the class. He is always open to talking to students outside of class if they have anything that is bothering them and I think that the students definitely pick up on the genuine sincerity of Mr. Varden's character. He cares about all of them and wants to make sure that they are successful. I did notice however, that the relationship that Mr. Varden shares with his Physics 2 (H, AP) students is much different than the one that he shares with his lower level Physics 1 students. The Physics 2 students have had Mr. Varden for 2 years and they are incredibly comfortable in his classroom. They poke fun at him and share a lot of laughs throughout the class period. Mr. Varden is okay with this because he knows that it does not affect the learning environment and certainly helps the students enjoy an otherwise very challenging course. The Physics 1 students on the other hand are much more orderly. Mr. Varden worked hard to establish a fairly strict environment to attempt to keep everyone on task. He said that from day one he established rules with the class that he strictly enforced and he made sure that they knew not to be disruptive during physics class. It is interesting to see the differences that exist between the two learning environments. Mr. Varden is viewed as more of a friend/ mentor in his Physics 2 class and more of an authority figure in his lower level classes.
I also focused on observing Mr. Varden's specific teaching style throughout his lessons. He uses powerpoint presentations to teach the concepts and then he follows up these presentations with group work and other investigations to help students understand the concepts more fully. During the group work, Mr. Varden and I circulated the classroom and worked with the individual groups to help guide them through the assigned tasks. When assisting small groups, Mr. Varden does not simply provide them with the correct answer but rather he guides them in the correct direction and prevents them from venturing down any dead-end streets. He focuses on developing their problem solving skills and wants them to develop and discover concepts on their own. When working with individuals, Mr. Varden asks probing questions to try to get them to understand the concepts more fully. He also asks questions that will help him gauge how well the students understand the content that is being taught. This allows him to readjust his teaching to make sure that everyone is "up to speed".
Reflect:
As I continue to observe Mr. Varden's teaching, I continue to be impressed with how he runs his classroom. All of his students are very attentive and respectful to him and because of this the class periods are productive and effective. I will definitely attempt to emulate Mr. Varden's teaching style in my future teaching and run my future classroom the way that he runs his. I believe that the teacher-student relationship is built off of a feeling of mutual respect. I don't think that a student will be motivated to learn and be attentive if they don't feel as though they are respected by their teacher. When they are respected and feel as though the teacher is treating them as they would treat an adult, a student will be much more likely to try their hardest and remain well behaved. When a teacher develops a strong relationship with a student the student wants to do well because if nothing else they don't want to disappoint the teacher. Mr. Varden definitely shares similar ideas and principles with regards to how he treats his students. I plan to run my class in a similar fashion and make sure that I include my students in all classroom decisions and make them feel that we are both equal partners in establishing the learning environment within the classroom.
I also very much agree with Mr. Varden's teaching strategies. His classroom is structured and organized and he incorporates hands-on learning to help to facilitate meaningful learning. I believe that students learn best in science by doing things by themselves (or in peer groups) and discovering principles and concepts on their own. I think that they need to make mistakes and get lost sometimes because when they figure out what their mistakes are and find out a way to regain their bearings, the learning will be much more meaningful and ever-lasting. I will incorporate group work and hands-on investigations to supplement the lectures in my future physics classroom in order to provide the students with an opportunity to perform real science and learn things on their own. I can definitely learn a lot from Mr. Varden about this type of inquiry teaching
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observe:
During my observations with Mr. Varden this week I concentrated on observing his relationship with the students in his classes. Mr. Varden has a very professional relationship with all of his students and they all seem to respect him and consider him to be the authority figure within the room. They enter the classroom and greet him and take their seats without acting up. When Mr. Varden begins class everyone quiets down and listens attentively to him. The order within the room is very impressive! Mr. Varden seems to treat all of his students as adults and he values their concerns and allows them to provide input to him about the class. He is always open to talking to students outside of class if they have anything that is bothering them and I think that the students definitely pick up on the genuine sincerity of Mr. Varden's character. He cares about all of them and wants to make sure that they are successful. I did notice however, that the relationship that Mr. Varden shares with his Physics 2 (H, AP) students is much different than the one that he shares with his lower level Physics 1 students. The Physics 2 students have had Mr. Varden for 2 years and they are incredibly comfortable in his classroom. They poke fun at him and share a lot of laughs throughout the class period. Mr. Varden is okay with this because he knows that it does not affect the learning environment and certainly helps the students enjoy an otherwise very challenging course. The Physics 1 students on the other hand are much more orderly. Mr. Varden worked hard to establish a fairly strict environment to attempt to keep everyone on task. He said that from day one he established rules with the class that he strictly enforced and he made sure that they knew not to be disruptive during physics class. It is interesting to see the differences that exist between the two learning environments. Mr. Varden is viewed as more of a friend/ mentor in his Physics 2 class and more of an authority figure in his lower level classes.
I also focused on observing Mr. Varden's specific teaching style throughout his lessons. He uses powerpoint presentations to teach the concepts and then he follows up these presentations with group work and other investigations to help students understand the concepts more fully. During the group work, Mr. Varden and I circulated the classroom and worked with the individual groups to help guide them through the assigned tasks. When assisting small groups, Mr. Varden does not simply provide them with the correct answer but rather he guides them in the correct direction and prevents them from venturing down any dead-end streets. He focuses on developing their problem solving skills and wants them to develop and discover concepts on their own. When working with individuals, Mr. Varden asks probing questions to try to get them to understand the concepts more fully. He also asks questions that will help him gauge how well the students understand the content that is being taught. This allows him to readjust his teaching to make sure that everyone is "up to speed".
Reflect:
As I continue to observe Mr. Varden's teaching, I continue to be impressed with how he runs his classroom. All of his students are very attentive and respectful to him and because of this the class periods are productive and effective. I will definitely attempt to emulate Mr. Varden's teaching style in my future teaching and run my future classroom the way that he runs his. I believe that the teacher-student relationship is built off of a feeling of mutual respect. I don't think that a student will be motivated to learn and be attentive if they don't feel as though they are respected by their teacher. When they are respected and feel as though the teacher is treating them as they would treat an adult, a student will be much more likely to try their hardest and remain well behaved. When a teacher develops a strong relationship with a student the student wants to do well because if nothing else they don't want to disappoint the teacher. Mr. Varden definitely shares similar ideas and principles with regards to how he treats his students. I plan to run my class in a similar fashion and make sure that I include my students in all classroom decisions and make them feel that we are both equal partners in establishing the learning environment within the classroom.
I also very much agree with Mr. Varden's teaching strategies. His classroom is structured and organized and he incorporates hands-on learning to help to facilitate meaningful learning. I believe that students learn best in science by doing things by themselves (or in peer groups) and discovering principles and concepts on their own. I think that they need to make mistakes and get lost sometimes because when they figure out what their mistakes are and find out a way to regain their bearings, the learning will be much more meaningful and ever-lasting. I will incorporate group work and hands-on investigations to supplement the lectures in my future physics classroom in order to provide the students with an opportunity to perform real science and learn things on their own. I can definitely learn a lot from Mr. Varden about this type of inquiry teaching